Volume 1, Chapter 7: South America? Europe? Where are those places?

Zhu Xiongying looked down at the bowl of scrambled eggs with tomatoes. The dish was a striking contrast of red and yellow, visually appealing and incredibly enticing. He picked up his chopsticks and took a bite; his eyes lit up instantly.

"Mmm... sweet and tangy, this is delicious!"

In that moment, it felt as if a new world had opened up before him. Zhu Biao then picked up a piece of the scrambled eggs and fed it to Lady Chang.

"My dear, you must try these scrambled eggs with tomatoes!"

"This... this is truly exquisite," Lady Chang said, a look of pure enjoyment on her face.

Watching the mother and son savor the meal, Zhu Biao felt a twinge of envy. "Sigh... I find myself envying those of future generations who can enjoy such delicacies every day."

"But what is even more admirable are the scholars of the Great Ming, who were able to cultivate such a delicious crop. Not only is it wonderful when cooked, but even raw, it tastes extraordinary. It seems the burden I carry is heavy indeed; I must never grow complacent."

Before Zhu Biao could finish indulging in his own sentimentality, Jiang Lin could not help but interject: "Your Highness, if I may correct you, tomatoes were not cultivated by the Ming. They are native to South America."

"According to historical records, they were only introduced to the Ming by Europeans more than two hundred years from now."

"South America? Europe?"

"What are these places? I have never heard of them," Zhu Biao asked, knitting his brows in confusion.

Jiang Lin continued to explain: "Your Highness, South America and Europe are continents, places where different peoples reside. Beyond these, there are four other continents: Asia, Africa, North America, Oceania, and Antarctica."

"There are also four great oceans: the Pacific, the Atlantic, the Indian, and the Arctic."

Zhu Biao was momentarily stunned, his eyes wide with shock at the new knowledge provided by Jiang Lin. He had always known the world was vast, but he had never imagined it was this large.

Jiang Lin went on: "Your Highness, our Great Ming only occupies a portion of Asia. Moreover, looking at the entire Earth, while the Ming is quite prominent on the map, there are many other nations with territories comparable in size to ours."

"What is this 'Earth'? Are you suggesting that the place we live on is a sphere?" Zhu Biao looked bewildered, his mind reeling from the barrage of new information.

Jiang Lin nodded. "That is correct—it is a sphere! A Portuguese explorer named Magellan, sailing under the Spanish flag, led a fleet that departed from Spain and eventually returned there, completing the first circumnavigation of the globe."

Finding this contrary to all common sense, Zhu Biao struggled to believe it and countered, "If what you say is true and we live on a sphere, how do so many people stand on it simultaneously? Wouldn't they all fall off?"

"Your Highness, there is a force within the Earth we live on called gravity."

"Simply put, this gravity pulls us toward the center, preventing us from falling off."

"This was discovered by an English physicist named Newton, and it all began with an apple..."

Jiang Lin continued to enlighten Zhu Biao, even regaling him with the story of Newton and the apple tree. At this moment, Zhu Biao was completely lost.

What was gravity? Where was this England in Europe? And what on earth was a physicist, or this Newton?

He felt overwhelmed. Why did one answer only lead to more questions? He hadn't even grasped the first concept before a mountain of new ones had piled up.